A Midnight Encounter
by RedLion2
Summary: Halloween AU. Four teens investigate an old farm house.One shot.


WEP owns Voltron.

Newsflash: Did you hear that WEP is close to signing a deal to put Voltron, both LVF and VVF on DVD? Check out their website at 

I hadn't planned on doing this, but I wanted to write something kinda spooky for Halloween. There may be some more one-shots following.

A Midnight Encounter

Wind rustled the dry leaves, sending them scurrying in abstract fashion. A cold moon hung low, casting incandescent shadows over the landscape, a landscape that shifted and changed as thin clouds drifted across the pewter sky. The rustling stillness was broken by the low murmuring of voices.

"Are you sure its this far out?" Lisa Jennings asked, jumping a little as Jeff Davis, her steady, put his arm around her shoulders.

"Its okay, Lis. I'm here," he said, giving her a quick smile.

"Yeah, it's not much further," Keith Mitchell said, holding his girlfriend's hand. Allura Antares leaned against him, shivering. The four continued along the overgrown path, occasionally tripping over a stray rock or root. Allura glanced around, not feeling comfortable this far off the beaten path. Keith squeezed her hand in reassurance, his maple eyes warm.

"Why are we doing this again?" Lisa asked, her hazel eyes wide and darting.

"Because its fun," Jeff said, grinning. She sighed. Naturally superstitious, she was already uneasy. The lure of a supposedly-haunted house was lost on her. They climbed a steep hill in the trail, the young men helping the girls keep their feet.

"There it is." Keith stopped and pointed, Allura shuddering against him. What had once been a stately farm house was now a crumbling, ramshackle mess, faded green with a mossy roof. An old decrepit barn sat just to the side of it, one of its doors open, creaking in the wind on hinges crying for oil. "Come on. Let's go down." Keith gripped Allura's hand tighter, a light dancing in his eyes. He was looking for a good adventure.

"Jeff, I don't know about this," Lisa whispered, clutching his arm. The tall football player smiled, all confidence.

"It'll be fun, Lisa. Relax." Jeff was as eager as Keith to see the inside of the old Brambly house. Lisa let him lead her down the steep path, her heart racing. _This isn't a good idea. No one even knows we're here._

"So, um, what's the official story on this place?" Allura asked, glancing up at Keith. He smiled down at her, his arm going around her waist.

"Kevin Brambly was a high school junior back in 1968. He was really popular, captain of the football team, that kind of thing. His girlfriend dumped him for his best friend, and he went crazy. He shot her that night and then came home and killed his parents with an ax before hanging himself in the barn," Keith said, voice low and calm. "I guess he'd had some mental problems before that."

"His girl must have been a fox," Jeff said, grunting as Lisa punched his shoulder. "Ow!"

"Big baby." Lisa bit her lip, staring at the imposing house that rose up like some ancient behemoth from the mists. She shivered, feeling Jeff's arm tighten.

"Shh, honey. It's only a story. The place probably isn't haunted," he whispered soothingly.

"It _looks_ haunted," she told him, shuddering again. The wind had died down into subtle submissiveness, the leaves left to nestle amongst the tall, overgrown bushes in the front yard. The group stopped before the open kitchen door; it seemed to the girls an open mouth, waiting to devour them into a bizarre, terrifying nightmare.

"I'll go first," Keith offered, stepping in, his dark eyes trying to adjust to the black void. Allura snapped on her flashlight, the beam swallowed up in the dusty gloom. She stumbled, feeling Keith catch her elbow. "Easy, baby," he murmured, taking her hand again. Jeff and Lisa followed, the raven-haired girl clinging to her boyfriend. Jeff kept his flashlight pointed down and ahead; the floor was strewn with broken glass and broken furniture, and it was hard to see where to step.

When a loud crash reverberated from the floor above them, the four high school juniors stopped dead, Allura gasping. Keith wrapped both arms around her, feeling her tremble. "It's okay. You're safe," he whispered against her golden hair, his heart pounding. He had no intention of letting her get hurt, or his other two friends, either. Jeff stood at his shoulder, Lisa curled in against her boyfriend's side.

"What, what was that?" Lisa asked, her voice shaky.

"Don't know." Jeff took a step forward. "Probably just the wind coming in from an open window, or something. Come on." They moved as one down the hall and turned into a large room. A couch stood against one wall, a rocking chair in the far corner. Allura felt unease rub down her spine. Something about the room wasn't right. Her bright ocean eyes swept the area, lighting on something in the far corner.

"K-Keith...." She started to pull back from him, feeling his hand tighten on hers.

"Ally? What is it?" he asked, concerned and just a little afraid. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea, after all.

"T-The corner." She swung the flashlight, illuminating an ax, cobwebs attempting to cover up the intrusive and bloodied item. Keith sucked in a sharp breath.

"This is where he killed his dad," he whispered, sick to his stomach. "After he killed his mom upstairs." The house seemed to tremble at his solemn words.

"Keith, I want to leave." Allura no longer attempted to hide her fear.

"M-Me too," Lisa said, looking up at Jeff, her hazel eyes shimmering with tears.

Jeff nodded, seeing Keith agree as well. They turned to go and heard a low moaning sound. The girls screamed, Allura trying to run only to trip and go down on her knees. Keith grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up, his breathing hard and fast. Jeff crushed Lisa to his body, shielding her from whatever had made the ghastly sound.

"Jeff, let's move!" Keith called out, voice hoarse with tension. He had Allura up and his arm locked securely around her. Nothing would hurt her.

"Right behind you." Jeff kept Lisa in front of him, her back to his chest. The hallway seemed longer, more narrow, and the flashlights didn't cut the darkness. With each nervous step, each tightly-drawn breath, the air itself closed in on them, strangling, crushing, driving them to more tension, more fear.

Keith forced himself to keep going. He had heard the tales all his life, about ghosts who walked the lonely old farm, and he had wanted to prove them right or wrong. But now he only wished to get out, to get Allura and their friends out, before something happened. Seeing the ax had brought home to him the fact that regardless of restless spirits, the story was true. And gruesome.

They reached the kitchen and the front door, and all four of them breathed a little easier. Safety was within their grasp. Allura reached for the door knob, only to find it refused to turn. A shriek sounded from somewhere above them, causing Lisa to practically leap into Jeff's arms. Keith tried to open the door but his strength alone was not enough.

"Jeff, help me!" he said, frustrated and trying to sound calm. Together the two best friends threw their weight into the door, but it remained unyielding. The two girls were hugging one another, petrified. Another scream rent the black air, and the girls began to cry, unable to keep back the tide of fear. Something was in here with them, something that seemed to be creeping closer, breathing down on them. Keith took Allura in his arms, holding her tight, his lips grazing her cold forehead. "It's okay, baby. I'm here. I'll protect you." _With my life, if it comes to that._

"Shh, sweetheart. Nothing will hurt you with me here," Jeff crooned to Lisa, his cobalt eyes blazing. Could it all be a trick? Some school friends playing a cruel joke? But why wouldn't the door open? Lisa was shaking, fighting to stay calm. "Just breathe, honey. Breathe," Jeff coaxed. He still had the flashlight, for all the good it did.

"There has to be another door," Keith said to Jeff, their eyes meeting in the feeble light. Jeff nodded, swallowing hard. Sure, another door, but where? Floor plans for a murderer's house hadn't exactly been available, especially when the locals refused to talk about it. Keith started moving; anything was better than just waiting, standing around while things got weirder, creepier.

Down the hallway again, the girls pressed tightly to the guys. They trusted their boyfriends, knew Keith and Jeff would do everything in their power to protect them, and prayed they would find a way out. Past the living room, a scene of intense carnage that had left policemen shaking their heads in vivid disgust, some of them too sick to even look at the victim. What drove a person to such violence? What made one snap, so to speak?

Noise from above, a step, a creak, another moan, louder this time, full of pain. They couldn't take it. They ran. Full-force, Keith and Jeff half-carrying the girls. Another door, this one giving way under the brutal assault of four very frightened teenagers. Breathing, inhaling, trying to stay cool. Keith and Jeff murmuring words of comfort. They had escaped. From what, they weren't quite sure, but it had to have been bad, evil, even.

Allura looked up, her sharp intake of breath not quite reaching her desiring lungs. She grabbed Keith's arm, pointing, her mouth open, her chest heaving. The barn. The place where the carnage, the destruction, had ended. Where a troubled young man had sought solace from whatever demons were chasing him.

"It's alright, Allura." Keith pulled her to him, frowning at her hard breathing. "Ally, relax. We're safe now. Breathe, honey." Still nothing, only she was gasping now, beginning to flail in his arms, her eyes locked on the grotesque structure that rose above them. Her fear was all-consuming. She could not hear anything. "Allura!" Keith cried out, desperate. Jeff stepped close, worried, ready to help his friends.

Lisa turned toward the barn and felt her heart skip. "Jeff....Jeff!" He spun at her scream, rushing to her, holding her, crushing her to him.

"What is it?" His voice was panicky. What was going on? She pointed, cowering against his hard and solid frame. Her protector. He looked up, his face blanching.

A figure, shadowed and distorted, stood in an upper window, the cool moonlight reflecting brazenly on it like a searchlight, showing just a glint of something steel. Jeff began backing away. "Keith, we gotta go!"

Allura had finally taken a breath, after her boyfriend kissed her, hard, trying to break whatever spell had been cast upon her. He too saw the figure, and felt no desire to know what it was, or what it seemed to want. They ran. Fast, hard, unrelenting. When the girls couldn't keep up, the boys simply swept them up into their iron arms and kept going. They made it back to Keith's truck in record time and lost none of it in getting away from the place.

There would be no joking about it later, no confessions, no daring others to go. The four knew they had witnessed something beyond the realm of this world, beyond the scope of knowledge of common man or woman. The Brambly farm would remain a mystery, an anomaly in an otherwise normal community, a place to be respected, if not admired.

And it would forever torture, haunt, and beckon to them in their nightmares.


End file.
